The USA Eagles bowed out of the 2003 Rugby World Cup with their reputation and honour intact, despite succumbing to a superior French outfit, eventually going down 41-14 in their Pool B match at the WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
But the French again sounded a warning to the other hopefuls at the tournament, beating the fearless Eagles with their second-string selection and outscoring them by five tries to two -- three of their tries going to South African-born centre Brian Liebenberg.
Those teams with aspirations of lifting the Webb Ellis Cup at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on November 22 could do themselves a favour by heeding the words of Eagles skipper Dave Hodges.
"The French are a class act," he said in his post-match interview. "They will go all the way to the Final."
But Hodges was proud also of the way his charges performed against a team that was clearly superior in all aspects, adding: "It was a good effort from the guys."
From the opening minute it was clear that the French held too many aces. They put the Eagles' scrum under pressure and turned ball over, almost at will.
While the Eagles did manage to get their hands on some ball, they added to the pressure already heaped on them with some unforced errors. It was out wide where most of those mistakes came, with the Eagles looking at their most dangerous when employing their pick-and-drive tactics through the forwards.
It was not surprising at all to see the French take an early lead, with two penalties by fly-half Gérald Merceron giving them a 6-0 lead after nine minutes.
Their first try came in the 16th minute. Fullback Clément Poitrenaud, putting his hand up for first-choice selection in the play-off stages, made a brilliant break that created the opportunity for Liebenberg to score the first of his three tries.
Three minutes later Liebenberg strolled over for his second try, after the French simply shoved the Eagles off the ball on their own scrum-feed and the French moved the ball to the short-side.
This try also showed why other teams need to start taking note of this French unit. Even though they were giving away 75 kilograms (almost 10kg per man) to the Eagles up front, France's technique is so brilliant that they toyed with the Eagles at times in the scrums.
France's third try, by tighthead prop Jean-Baptiste Poux, was also the result of total dominance by the French pack. From a line-out in the 35th minute they simply drove it up and over the line, with the Eagles retreating is if they were competing in an Olympic sprint.
The first half ended with a Merceron penalty, which saw Les Blues take a 26-0 lead into the break.
In the second half the Eagles were a lot more competitive and the teams ended with two tries each. But the Americans were never going to be able to close that huge gap from the first half.
Liebenberg, who paid credit to his forwards for creating the opportunities to score those "easy" tries, also had some words of praise for the Eagles' second-half performance.
"Credit must go to the Eagles for coming out and sticking to their guns after the break," he said.
And indeed they did well, with the Eagles tries -- by flanker Kort Schubert and fly-half Mike Hercus -- the result of some good creative play. Schubert's try came after great pick-and-drive play by the forwards, with Hercus showing good hands and setting up the flanker. Hercus' try was the result of one of the best dummies sold at this year's World Cup.
Man of the match: One would be tempted to go straight for the hat-trick hero Brian Liebenberg, but then there was Gérald Merceron who had a good game at fly-half and the French forwards were in total control. But we are going for scrum-half Dmitri Yachvili, who showed there will be life in the No.9 jersey after Fabien Galthié. His left-footed drop-goal in the 62nd minute was a classic, even though the game had long ended as a contest on the scoreboard.
Moment of the match: This one is easy. It goes to Eagles fly-half Mike Hercus' try in the 51st minute. The dummy he sold the French defenders was so convincing that two of them tackled the player with out the ball and even the TV cameras momentarily followed the wrong player.
Villain of the match: One yellow card only, with French flanker Sebastién Chabal getting his marching orders in the 75th minute for repeated and cynical offences. With his team having already won the match at that stage and still in total control, his actions were totally unwarranted.
Yellow card: (Chabal 75)
The Teams:
France: 1 Olivier Milloud, 2 Yannick Bru (c), 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 4 David Auradou, 5 Olivier Brouzet, 6 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Patrick Tabacco, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 David Bory, 12 Brian Liebenberg, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Pepito Elhorga, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves: Sylvain Marconnet
Unused: Raphael Ibanez, Olivier Magne, Aurelien Rougerie, Yannick Jauzion, Frederic Michalak, Jerome Thion
United States: 1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges (c), 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 David Fee, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Salesi Sika, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 John Buchholz
Reserves: Jason Keyter, Matt Sherman, Jurie Gouws, Mose Timoteo, Jacob Waasdorp, Matt Wyatt
Unused: Gerhard Klerck
Attendance: 17833
Referee: Honiss p.
Points Scorers:
France
Tries: Liebenberg B. 3, Bru Y. 1, Poux J-B. 1
Conv: Merceron G. 2
Pen K.: Merceron G. 3
Drop G.: Yachvili D. 1
United States
Tries: Hercus M. 1, Schubert K.S. 1
Conv: Hercus M. 2
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